Israel - Meir Nitzan Rishon LeZion Cultural Hall has upgraded its audio system, the ultimate aim being to offer a first-class system that would significantly reduce the need for visiting productions to carry their own equipment, thus reducing the environmental impact of transportation. To achieve this, L-Acoustics K Series was installed. Constructed 20 years ago and located just eight kilometres from Tel Aviv, the Hall is known for its excellent acoustics and the comfort of its seating. The multi-purpose venue includes a large auditorium of 970 seats - where the new system was installed - a smaller auditorium of 250 seats and dance halls, both large and small. The main auditorium hosts a full range of productions, from drama and musical theatre to classical concerts and rock and roll. The venue also serves as the home of the Israeli Symphony Orchestra Rishon LeZion as
Ireland - The Irish première of the hit musical comedy, Spamalot (School Edition), took place recently in County Mayo. The show, written by Eric Idle and based around the hit film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, has been a favourite of audiences all over the world since its Broadway debut in 2005. The run of five shows took place in the newly built multi-purpose hall of the Sancta Maria College in Louisburgh. Whilst the setting might suggest a modest production, limited by the technical and financial resources of a school, the reality was anything but. The college’s production of Spamalot, directed by Head of English and theatre arts specialist, Marina Rice, was able to call on the services of two west of Ireland-based companies... EvenTech, run by John Kearney, is a leading production services company, who specialise in complete solutions for
Sweden - The Radisson Blu Scandinavia Hotel in Gothenburg recently commissioned a new 'design lighting' solution over the hotel's common area. Sweden based Priebe-ScanRig AB (PSRIG) was appointed to deliver and fit two large truss constructions with associated suspension. The truss would constitute as a carrier for the newly commissioned solution – with one of the constructions to be motorised while the other, permanently installed, would hang from steel wires. Aart Gigengack, sales manager and co-owner of PSRIG explained: "During the installation of the lighting solution, the truss grids needed to be raised and lowered. With the installation being performed over an extended period of time, the installers needed a fast and simple way to see the loads being applied on each suspension point." Aart specified the use of Broadweigh load cells and Handheld Advanced to the
USA - Quick to adapt its business model to the current situation, Premier Entertainment Group in Dothan, Alabama has transformed its warehouse into a full service video production studio. Kitted out with lighting from ADJ and sister company Elation Professional, the facility is being used by DJs, bands and church worship groups to professionally record sets that can then be broadcast through online streaming. The effect of the worldwide Coronavirus pandemic on the entertainment industry has been truly profound, with every kind of event – from arena tours to wedding receptions – postponed for the foreseeable future. However, many entertainment professionals are utilizing modern technology to broadcast live performances and DJ sets directly to the comfort and safety of their fans’ homes. Which is the route that Premier Entertainment Group (PEG)’s president and owner, D
USA - Executive pastor Josh Parker and his team at Central Church in Augusta, Maine, have started livestreaming their Saturday evening and Sunday services. Streamed on Facebook and YouTube, the services are providing the church’s community with an enriched and engaging worship experience, complete with production-level audio, graphics, and lighting. Still, as Easter approached, pastor Parker and his team were seeking to add an extra, and even more immersive element to their online services. This ultimately led them to journey 147 miles south to the Events United’s Studio Lab in Derry, New Hampshire. “During Easter we always look for creative ways to reach more people by expanding production,” said Parker. “Once it became clear we would not be able to hold our usual Easter services, we started searching for innovative ways to improve our online production le
UK - Dan Ridd and Steven Haynes of Clearsound Productions in Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire, positioned eight Robe MegaPointes on the roof of their warehouse –and beamed them around the town and up into the night sky, creating a special piece of light art to connect the local community and show support for the efforts of frontline and essential workers and the National Health Service (NHS). The action was inspired by the now weekly Clap For Carers initiative (started in the UK by Annemarie Plas) which united millions across the country who appeared in windows and doorways clapping and rattling or thumping percussive objects, the first of which had happened at 8.00 p.m. on the previous Thursday. Dan participated in this and realised just how much you can actually hear. This prompted him and Steve to think about what you might be able to see, coupled with the ma
New Zealand - The Paraparaumu Southwards Car Museum marked the installation of its new lighting system with a concert in its 474-seat multi-use theatre by Adrian Dittmer’s Bruce Springsteen tribute band. When he isn’t playing bass for the Springsteen tribute band, Dittmer is the sales and marketing manager of MDR Sound and Lighting in Palmerston North. After he reached out to the museum theatre, about a possible gig, its tech director Levi Hampton told him that the facility was looking to do a lighting upgrade. “Once Levi mentioned what the theatre wanted to do, I put on my MDR hat and told him that we could supply anything he needed,” said Dittmer. “The theatre was pulling out the existing fly system, as it was no longer effective, and they were no longer hosting traditional theatrical productions. They were wanting to replace that system with a truss grid
USA - USA – More than 150m fans around the world witnessed pop stars Shakira and Jennifer Lopez perform a Latin-inspired concert at this year’s Super Bowl LIV halftime show, on a huge circular video floor powered by Green Hippo Hippotizer Tierra+ media servers. Lighting director Jason Rudolph took the helm for the visuals for the prestigious halftime show, which was produced by Touchdown Entertainment on behalf of the NFL. It took place at the 65,000-capacity Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. With a plethora of aerial shots on the camera angle agenda, the team devised the large, round stage as an eye-catching centrepiece for the action, which was broadcast live in the USA by Fox and around the world by multiple networks. “We used two of the new Tierra+ Media Servers on the show - one main, one backup - each doing 2x 4K outputs for the stage,” R
USA - Bon Iver supported the release of their latest album, i,i with a tour of arenas in select North American cities, with Red Hook, New York-based Firehouse Productions supplying an L-Acoustics K2 and Kara PA for the trek. But the second and latest leg of the tour was even more special - and spatial - thanks to Firehouse’s deployment of L-ISA Hyperreal Sound technology. According to Firehouse Productions account rep Chris Russo, the tour’s L-ISA configuration featured three central arrays each composed of 16 K2 plus three Kara down, flanked to the left and right by hangs of 24 Kara as the Scene system, which extended over the full width of the stage. Farther out to the left and right, two per side, 12-enclosure Kara arrays served as the Extension system, while two fill-arrays of 12 K2 expanded out-fill coverage to 180° of seating. Two hangs of 10 KS28 e
Philippines - The New Clark City Athletics Stadium is an Olympic Grade Class 1 multi-purpose stadium located at New Clark City in Capas, Tarlac, in the Philippines. High-profile events hosted recently by the 20,000-capacity venue have included the athletic events and closing ceremony of the 30th Southeast Asian Games and the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2020 ASEAN Para Games. The Athletics Stadium’s architecture with its hinged roof, which takes inspiration from the crater of the country’s Mount Pinatubo volcano, now hosts an impressive new Outline Stadia PA system composed of 30 loudspeaker enclosures powered by eight Outline GTA Otto (Dante) power amps, installed by Amigo Entertainment Technologies, Outline’s distributor for the Philippines. Amigo also installed an Outline Stadia PA in the New Clark City Sports Hub’s IAAF-certified Class 1 Aqua
USA - On Saturday, 18 April, Rock Cellar Productions, in association with the Get Together Foundation, will present All Together Now! – an online concert event helping the City of Los Angeles during the coronavirus pandemic. Keeping with the strict ‘stay at home’ regulations of health authorities and the guidance of local, state, and federal government officials, this virtual streaming event will give fans their music fix in the comfort of their own homes. The concert will feature an array of singers, songwriters, musicians, actors, authors, comedians, and celebrities of all sorts “coming together” to perform and send positive messages out to the City of Los Angeles and the world. Early participation includes Jeff Bridges, Mike Love (The Beach Boys), Lisa Loeb, Steve Lukather (Toto), Vonda Shepard, Peter Beckett (Player), Alan Parsons Live Project, and
USA - Grace Primitive Baptist Church in Pearl, Mississippi supports a close-knit community of believers with very traditional services. Spoken word and sung vocals are the focus, with occasional support from backing tracks. Its long, rectangular sanctuary can accommodate approximately 300 congregants, but until recently, many of them had difficulty understanding what was being said or sung. AV integration firm Sound and Communications (SoundCOM) of Flowood, Mississippi solved Grace Primitive’s intelligibility problems by designing and installing a new sound reinforcement system led by a single, unobtrusive Danley Sound Labs SM100 full-range, point-source loudspeaker. “The old loudspeaker they had in there was original to the building, which is 17 years old,” explained Allen Cotton, solutions architect with Sound and Communications. “They weren’t pleased with
Germany - Hamburg rapper Samy Deluxe did not choose to celebrate his birthday privately, but instead filled the Hamburg Barclaycard Arena with around 12,000 fans last December. The show, which also marked the end of his successful SaMTV Unplugged tour, was attended by numerous guests. On top of that was the unexpected release of his new album Hochkultur, which was also given as a present to all birthday guests. LD Bertil Mark, who has been working on the artist’s tour design since 2019 (after handling various festival engagements in previous years), was given the task of transferring the ‘living room’ atmosphere endemic to an unplugged concert to Hamburg's largest concert location. In terms of lighting technology, he included 24 GLP impression X4L, 12 X4 Bar 20, 22 JDC1 hybrid strobes and 18 Highlander Wash lights, in his set design. “’Unplugged’ alw
Spain - Marea has been rocking for over 20 years as one of the most popular Rock en Español bands around. In 2019, the band released their first album in eight years, El Azogue and promptly hit the road in support with renowned Spanish lighting designer Miguel González on board to define the visual concept. Gonzalez has worked with a variety of high-profile acts over the years, including Marea since 2007, and incorporated 52 Elation Chorus Line 8 LED battens in his design. Seeking a linear light that was something more than a static wash light, he chose the Chorus Line 8 for its 4 to 40-degree zoom and 220-degree tilt axis movement, dynamism that allows it to fulfill a number of roles in a single show from directional stage wash to dynamic eye candy effect. “I chose the Chorus Line for its versatility and the short 50cm length, which gave me plenty of possi
Serbia - With an impressive line-up of EDM stars, the Green Love Festival in Novi Sad has grown into a magnet for music fans, not just for its sounds, but for its visual treats as well. Aside from being located in a beautiful vibrant city on the Danube that was designated the European Capital of Culture for 2021 by the EU, the indoor and outdoor festival also wows fans with some stunning stage panoramas. This was readily apparent in the looks that lighting designer Predrag Djordjević and stage designer Dragan Rajčin from Chameleon Rental conjured up for artists like Spartaque, Metodi Hristov and Fernanda Martins during the most recent incarnation of the festival. With its crossing patterns of beams set off against a massive wall of bright blinders and video panels, their design wrapped itself around the music, commanding attention without taking attention away from the art
UK - The Space is a theatre training complex for 16-19-year olds at Heathfield Community School, located next door to Tacchi-Morris Arts Centre in Taunton, Somerset, UK. The complex includes an 85-seat performance theatre, dance and drama studios all kitted out to high technical specifications – including new Zero 88 Chilli Pro 24 Bypass dimmers. This impressive facility offers young people in the south-west of the country opportunities for developing future careers in the performing arts. It specialises in a range of interrelated disciplines including dance, acting, film, production arts, makeup, set design / building and more, with an intake of around 80 students over two years. The Space’s technical manager Tom Froom explained that the students from both years will produce between 10 and 12 shows over the course of the academic year. Tom has been a
Australia - Canberra -based technical production and event specialist and rental company Elite Event Technology ensured that Horizon 2020 – the Friday Night Party event that was part of the Australian National University Students' Association (ANUSA)’s annual Orientation (freshers) Week activities in February – had appropriate lighting and sound for their main stage. Staged at the Fellows Oval sports ground on the University of Canberra campus in ACT, around 3000 students enjoyed great weather and a line-up of young emerging talent including Cub Sport, Holy Holy, Wafia, Graace, Remi, Adrian Eagle and Hayley Mary. Elite also provided a d&b PA system for the event. The company supplies lighting, sound and AV production for numerous other functions at the university. The lighting rig was based around a festival lighting spec created by headliner Club Sport
China - The new year’s first collection of applications across the continents, has seen Amate Audio systems deployed in a multiplicity of roles and a diversity of environments. MI City is a new, purpose built music lounge located in Qingyuan city in Guangdong Province in mainland China. Fitting it out with a suitably scaled, high performance audio installation was a major project. Amate Audio regional distributor – Hong Kong based Majestic Trading Company – installed an extensive Amate Audio system throughout the music club, primarily centred around an X210P line array system and JK218W4 subs. Majestic supplied and installed the system comprising a total of 53 cabinets distributed throughout the two floor, 628sq.m club area. The main FOH system comprises two strings of six X210P line array elements, flown either side of the extensive DJ booth, with a tot
USA - Brad Katz, founder of California audio company Waveworks, has spent his career searching for a high-fidelity audio system for use at events ranging from block parties to dance events, which can be anything from all-night raves to multi-day festivals. He found what he was looking for in Alcons Audio pro-ribbon technology. Based in Oakland, Brad founded Waveworks in 2016. “The dance music industry tends to stick with what it knows, and a lot of the competition is racing to be the loudest. I've spent my career searching for a true ‘3D’ sound that does not hurt after hours of dancing, where there is so little distortion that you can have a conversation and earplugs are optional,” he says. He first heard Alcons Audio pro-ribbon systems at a demonstration of the VR8 compact versatile monitor, before he founded Waveworks. “The demo was great, and it really stu
Mexico - After 18 years of relentless touring, nine studio albums, and a fistful of awards, heavy metal icons WarCry remain as fiercely intense as ever. The band’s searing passion was as hot as a blast furnace when they appeared at Chihuahua’s Teatro de las Ciudad in September. From the moment they burst on the stage performing Luz del norte and throughout their entire 21 song set, the band from the Asturian region of Spain swept fans up in their hard driving sound. Contributing to the experience was a frenetic lightshow created with 28 Chauvet Professional fixtures supplied by ProAudioSoluciones. Tapped by the show’s producer, Direct Music Company, to provide the lighting rig, ProAudioSoluciones drew on its 20 years experience in the entertainment industry to select fixtures that could provide powerful, immersive looks, while still offering versatility
UK - Audio-visual and entertainment technology company Anna Valley is building a centre for audio excellence across the group by purchasing new audio equipment to supplement their existing stock, consolidating their inventory with that of their subsidiary, Matrix UK Solutions, and assembling a team of dedicated audio specialists. The new stock purchased by Anna Valley complements both its existing d&b, Shure and Yamaha kit as well as the equipment recently moved from Matrix to the group’s head office in Feltham, to create a comprehensive hire stock of digital audio equipment. The company has expanded its range of d&b speakers by adding both Y-Series and E-series to their existing stock and have replaced their wireless microphone systems with digital options. Anna Valley’s purchase of an additional 40 channels of Shure QLX-D with DPA microphones a
UK - Stage Electrics has received an order for £209,000 from Vinci Construction for works to King’s School in Macclesfield. The project started out as a design proposal and has developed over the last few months into a complete installation covering lighting, sound and projection. The newly developed campus will include four large performance areas within the school, the Conference Room, Drama Studio, Junior Hall and Recital Room. Stage Electrics will be installing lighting, audio and video infrastructure to the four rooms. Work began on the 30 March and is expected to be completed within 11 weeks. The site team are working during the Covid-19 crisis and are constantly risk-assessing the situation. Stage Electrics has worked with Vinci Construction before on other projects including the Fairfield Halls project in Croydon. Chris Wells is headi
USA - Last Saturday evening (4 April), Stage Right Lighting of Virginia Beach teamed up with Smartmouth Beer to broadcast The Relief Stream featuring local rock band Bennett Wales & the Relief. The benefit concert was streamed live from Stage Right Lighting's own studio, decked out using their extensive inventory of lighting gear. The lighting setup included Elation Proteus Rayzor 760 LED moving heads and Seven Batten 72 linear LED lights, along with ZW37 II LED moving heads, a few of which had GoPro cameras mounted to their face for wide-angle video shots. Revenue generated from the live stream went to support music and production crews of the Virginia Beach and Hampton Roads area. Experience or relive the show at https://stagerightlighting.com.
Australia - D1 Studios in Marrickville, Sydney, is a busy facility that caters for photo and video shoots, commercials and promos. It’s owned and run by Harry Dakanalis. Dakanalis has also been a stuntman and stunt coordinator for many years, cutting his teeth working on numerous feature films and commercials. When he’s not been jumping out of helicopters and spectacularly crashing cars, his other company D2 Motion has developed a highly accurate robotic motion-controlled camera system. This can produce gravity-defying camera angles, aspects and footage for more standard studio stunt effects quickly and efficiently. Harry has also recently invested in 64 Astera Titan Tube LED battens for the studio which are part of the specialist light box set up that D1 offers its clients. The Titans, purchased through ULA Group, Astera’s Australian distri
